157 



WTtite-faced Duck Son. Brit. Mis. t. 62. 



Le Mihuian Buff. Ois. 9. 22 1 . 



rcilL En. Method. Orn. 1. 152. 



Le canard a bee cercte Veitt. En. Method. Orn. 1 . 144. 



Trachea Linn. Trans, vol. 4, tab. \$,fig. o — 6. 



Met with in the same localities as Fuligula ferina, breeding near the arctic circle, and laying from 

 fare to eight greenish eggs. 



FULIGULA AFFINIS. 



Fu. — Precedent! similis. sed rostro breviore et imgue angustiore armato. 



AMERICAN SCAUP. 



Duck like the preceding, but with the bill shorter and armed with a narrower nail. 



IN. IN. 



Length 19 Breadth of nail . . l-5th 



Bill 1 3-5ths Tarsi . ., 1 l-5th 



The above bird may be distinguished from the preceding in both sexes by the following com- 

 parative marks : total length less ; bill shorter and not so broad ; nail much narrower, and not so 

 much rounded at its sides ; tarsi shorter. 



Scaup Duck of .American authors. 

 Fuligula affinis nobis. 



Inhabits North America. 



This is another bird of which we have entertained considerable doubts as to the propriety of 

 making into a species : the above distinctions, however, appear through all the specimens we have 

 examined to be constant. It is a curious fact that most of the water ducks* (Fuligulinee) of North 

 America and Europe should be all distinct, while those land ducks (Anatina) and the mergansers 

 (Mergince) should in a great measure be identical. We can only attribute it to their being en- 

 dowed with a greater power of wing, and to the former ( Fuligulinee J following the sea coast in 

 their migrations, and probably performing it by shorter flights, consequently being less liable, if I 

 may be allowed the expression, to lose their road. 



It is, however, yet a question whether, if the theory we have advanced in the introductorj 

 chapter of this work prove true, they will not eventually take the rank of varieties. 



* We have never examined the eiders of North America. 



